Response from Akio Matsumura

I would like to respond to your article titled “Changing Ethics in Business.”

I think this is a wonderful and timely article that provides a moral appeal to the current business leaders, and speaks to basic human principles.

Twelve U.S. Senators and sixteen U.S. Congressmen including Senator Al Gore, Senator Clairborne Pell, Congressman Hamilton, among many others, attended the Parliamentary Earth Summit Conference at Rio de Janeiro in 1992, co-sponsored by the Brazilian Congress. The photograph of the children from Rio’s favelas speaking from the balcony at Parliament asks us what we have accomplished of our resolutions since then. Let us reflect on what we discussed at that historic event in regard to tackling the global environmental issues we would face in the 21st century. Senator Al Gore, one of the leading environmental legislators in the US Congress at the time and a member of the Global Forum Executive Committee, gave the keynote address and set the tone with a spiritual appeal unusual for a politician. He inquired, “People all over the world feel themselves part of a single global family. Why then are spiritual leaders not joining parliamentarians in this dialog?” Mr. Stephan Schmidheiny, Chairman of the Business Council for Sustainable Development said that the true sustainable development ultimately comes down to ethical, moral and spiritual considerations—we must all become care-takers, working to safeguard the interests of future humans and the interests of the other species with which we share the planet.

These fundamental appeals remind us that we still must tackle these pressing issues of human survival in the 21st century.

Recently, since the world has been facing this extreme financial crisis, people have lost confidence in the financial market system. This trust is as important for the success of the worldwide financial system as oxygen is for people to survive. Similarly, confidence and trust between people is the key to world peace, but most do not realize and appreciate its strength until there is a shortage or it disappears. In order to make a system work people need to believe in it, and if the financial system can’t garner our trust, then world peace still seems several strides away.

The article “Changing Ethics in Business” voices the growing concerns of our younger generations. They are looking for a new vision in the coming decades, one which celebrates and prepares them for their common future.

The Tunisian Nobel Prize: Dialogue as a Political Virtue

Refugees and Responsibility

Understanding the Nuclear Challenge and Three Other Security Threats

New Type of Confrontation and the 25th Anniversary of the Moscow Global Forum

“Akio’s modesty is key to his achievements. He does not try to control the outcome of his conferences: the delegates are genuinely free to discuss what they want, and how. This openness is, I believe, the key to his success.”

Anuradha Vittachi, Co-founder of the OneWorld Network and OneClimate

“A spiritual beginning must be the basis of any initiative. Akio has always faithfully acted upon this conviction. His devotion to it has made it possible for him not only to overcome numerous obstacles and problems but also help others.”

Mikhail Gorbachev, former president, USSR

“I have a powerful position of the UN, a staff of 4,000 and a huge office, but Akio does not have any of this. However he can bring President Gorbachev and Mother Teresa together at a meeting, which I cannot do.”

Bradford Morse, Administrator of the UNDP, former U.S. Congressman

“Akio is the most completely selfless, dedicated person I have ever known. Failure is a word he does not know. It is only for him a challenge to move forward again.”

John Whitehead, former co-chair of Goldman Sachs, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State.

Akio is a motivation, a movement and an inspiration on the globe. He is bridging the gap between generations, religion, politics and nations. He is a true global citizen and a peacemaker, a man of dedication.

Lubna Malik, International Schools Coordinator (Lahore, Pakistan)

“He has the spirit of a saint, the skill of a mediator, the mind of one inspired by an awesome Creator, and Cosmic friend, and the imaginative courage of a genuine, one of a kind, historic initiator. His sense of urgency is grounded in the dramatic and traumatic struggle of our time which is as much spiritual as it is political.”

Glenn Olds, former U.S. ambassador to the UN, former president of Kent State

“Akio Matsumura is in the truest sense of the phrase “a citizen of the world”. He has no ideological agenda beyond the betterment of the human condition. A remarkable and admirable person.”

Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University

“Akio Matsumura was one of the first global citizens I met many years back in a forum in Moscow. His genuine concern and compassion for all people inspired me to see my own connection to the rest of humanity. Evolution will move forward for the better because of people like him.”

Jim Paredes, celebrated Philippino musician

Akio and President Gorbachev

Senator Claiborne Pell and Akio

Akio and His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Dr. Thor Heyerdhal and his wife at Akio's

Akio and Chairman Arafat

Finding the Missing Link is a project by Akio Matsumura to connect people, information, and ideas to provide effective and innovative solutions to new types of international problems. Read more.